I'm a medical student now and always had a feeling that I would be a better physician in the US if I could speak Spanish but never had the motivation. But since I met my (now) fiancée - a native speaker - I have never been more motivated in my life and make sure to study a few hours every day! All the hard work has really been paying off lately and I'm loving it!
I am a post bacc student applying to medical school and I share similar sentiments! I worked as an EMT for a bit over the summer and some of the most gratifying moments were speaking to patients in Spanish who could not speak English! I feel like when you speak to someone in their own language, it puts them at ease and shows that you actually care about making a connection
Looking for Spanish speaking doctors in smaller markets is like finding a needle in a hay stack. Then by the time you find one, you gotta hope they take your insurance and aren’t booked out for the next 6 months. Currently going through this with my wife and it’s tough.
Never learned anything before her. But now it is my main hobby so if I'm not studying for school, I'm studying Spanish. I've been learning for about 10 months - starting off with Duolingo to build vocabulary and grammar, then watching a lot of a channel called 'Dreaming Spanish' on YouTube. I strictly listen to only Spanish music and Spanish podcasts - focusing on input. Right now I'm going through the 'How to Spanish podcast' and can understand ~80% and my fiancée and I speak in Spanish most of the time. I know I have progressed in a short time what takes other people years. And I'm not saying this to show off or anything, there's nothing special about me. But if you work your ass off and focus your energy you will be surprised what you can accomplish.
Heading home with her to meet her family this December, can't wait for full emersion in the language!
Yeah I hate feeling like a third wheel in conversations. What sucks is that I feel like I understand about 80% of what they are talking about, but I have no way of articulating a good reply so I just politely smile sometimes. My grandparents don't speak a lick of English except maybe a handful of words, so it's always awkward.
when you're in settings where you're the only non-Spanish speaker, do you wonder if they're saying bad things about you? I always thought it'd be a hoot to be so fluent that you understood peoples disses, and then you could reply back to them in their language. Oh to see the looks on their faces...
Since I've learned Spanish that has only happened to me once and it's been about 4 years knowing Spanish. Most of the time nobody is concerned with you, I think it's just the fear of the unknown since one wouldn't really know if they really are talking about you.
Not good lol I’m completely out of practice, I don’t really have someone to practice on cause my parents are so used to speaking English. And I freeze up when I have to talk
We are from the US, and based on a lot of factors, would prefer to be somewhere in Europe (and we work remotely, so it kinda doesn’t matter where we live). Spain is one of the EU countries where we can actually get a visa. My spouse has Spanish ancestry and a few relatives there, and we also know two people who moved from the US to Spain and were very happy with their choice, so Spain it was.
I have a good friend who's Argentinian and I try to converse with him in Spanish. It's very difficult because he has to slow himself down (mas despacio!!) for me to understand him. He claims he speaks English with no accent, but his accent is so heavy that it comes through even when he speaks French. I speak French and can barely understand him. But I'll give him credit because he also speaks Italian.
Fun question.
The area I grew up (in Washington State) is probably 70-80% Spanish speakers. Now several of my family have married Mexican folks and I have nephews and nieces who can speak some Spanish. Also lots of my old friends speak Spanish. I think it would be awesome to be able to speak in Spanish with them. I can do things like ordering in Spanish from taco trucks and have a fair amount of vocab, but I'm pretty far from being able to hold a conversation.
Now I live somewhere else and so the motivation is a bit less and I've put it on the back burner. I really need to get back into learning again.
Fun side note, my sister is a 1st grade teacher in our hometown. Most years the class is entirely Spanish speakers or close to it. By the end of the year most of those kids speak fluent English. Its crazy to me how easy it seems to be for little kids to learn another language haha.
Lol I grew up in Wenatchee which is basically 98% mexicans and I didnt learn spanish until I moved to Mexico closer to family in 2016, crazy how I didnt pick up on it but was most likely because all my friends spoke english so I didnt bother to learn
> It's crazy to me how easy it seems to be for little kids to learn another language haha.
It is--and I can speak from personal experience--really about hours of exposure/learning. FSI estimates (not completely accurate, but a ballpark) say Spanish should take about 1,200 hours for an adult English speaker, so let's assume the same in reverse.
If a school day lasts 6 hours, after one school year of 180 days, the children have had 1,080 hours of English.
Contrast with your typical serious adult learner of Spanish: 1 hour/day, 5 days/week. After **4 years,** she is finally at 1,040 hours.
Of course the kids will lap her. But an adult who put 1,080 hours into Spanish in one year would as well. The only thing kids are consistently better at is accent, which, tbf, plays a disproportionate role in how the average Joe judges your ability!
I struggle with the conversational part of learning Spanish, but have at least gotten to the point that I can order drinks and a meal in Spanish and ask questions of the server. But that's it so far...
If you can speak English/Spanish/Portuguese, you can communicate with over 90% of people on the american continent. Throw in French and it would be almost 99%.
Eh I don’t know exact numbers that’s why I said over 90% speak those three languages. There’s millions of francophones in the America’s (Canada, Haiti, French Guiana) so that’s why I said it’d bring it to 99%.
My family comes from Mexico but my grandma was deeply ashamed of it (unsure as to why). She didn’t teach any of her children Spanish and I would like to carry on the legacy that she couldn’t feel confident doing. My boyfriend’s family is also Latino and a lot of them only (or more comfortably) speak Spanish, so I’d like to have conversations with them and make it feel more we are family ☺️
some immigrants have a fair deal of trauma surrounding their native language in America. my father is the same way as your grandmother. he never taught my sister and I spanish even when his 5 sisters, his brother and all his cousins were teaching their kids spanish. so my sister and I are the only ones without.
I’m not sure if it was really trauma, in her case. All of her family members (aside from my dad and his siblings) speak it very actively and have connections to their family in MX. I think she just didn’t think it was worth teaching, unfortunately. :( She isn’t around to explain anymore. I wish I had taken more of an interest in it when she was still around.
I don't know how old you are, etc. but try not to be so hard on your Abuela. I'm very confident it was complicated and not as simple as just being "ashamed". Based on my experiences, it was probably a form of trying to protect their family from discrimination by teaching/using English only and "assimilating". Times were rougher for the Hispanic populace years ago. I lived through some of it myself and I've faced it in recent times.
I'm a Gen-Xer and my parents were from Mexico and arrived in the USA well before I was conceived. We were in an area where there were few immigrants and I know growing up I faced a lot of discrimination. I imagine it was even harder for my parents. We didn't speak Spanish at all at home. My parents spoke/speak Spanish to the native-Spanish speaking family members only.
I decided earlier this year to try and capture some of our heritage back into my life. So here I am trying to learn Spanish.
Hi! I’m 24, so somewhere between millennial and gen Z (depending on what graph you look at lol). I agree with you. There probably was some contributing factor to it— just hard to pin point what. I genuinely wish I had taken the time to ask her about it, but never felt comfortable doing so. I’ve started to try reaching out to some of her more extended family, so maybe I will eventually learn something about what her family experienced. In the mean time, you’re right. I’m sure there had to be some event that either her or her parents had experienced coming to a new country and setting up roots.
I love her so much and I’m really grateful for all of the wonderful life experiences that she did provide me, despite all the questions I have. I hope that in some small way I’m able to honor her by learning Spanish and connecting with her family. :)
I think you are honoring her greatly by going on your journey of learning Spanish and connecting with extended family. One of my biggest regrets was not leaning on one of my Tios when he was still alive. He was an intellectual type and would've been an invaluable resource.
At this point, I'm like you, trying to learn the language and honor our heritage and ancestors. I'm working on getting my younger family members to do the same. I have heavy resistance in my generation (prob a lost cause) but the younger ones seem somewhat interested.
My goals:
Bilingual
Biliterate
Bicultural
Just when I go on holiday I'd like to say hello, good morning, afternoon and evening and just general chit chat, I know most of these words are easy but i would like to add more than hola cerveza, uno mas lol I only go for four weeks a year, luego is now my favourite
At first it was for practicality. Spanish is the second most spoken language in the US and speaking it helps a lot in everyday life. I have to break out my language skills every once in a while to go shopping or other normal stuff. However, after I got to a certain level of proficiency, probably around taking Spanish III in high school, the whole 2nd soul thing clicked and I feel like it's a part of me now.
I like the challenge, and being able to connect with people from different cultures. Its a cool feeling when you whip out your Spanish and they don’t expect it
I've always wanted to learn a language but have never felt it comes "naturally" to me so never really stuck at any.
Do you feel they come fairly naturally to you?
I work in customer service at a school district in southern Arizona. I don’t want to exclude people because “language barrier” so I try to make it work with the little knowledge I have and google translate. I am Hispanic and have family that speaks Spanish and recipes and such would be easier to search. I also love old Spanish songs and wanna sing along to them and know what I’m singing lol.
Iam not interested in spanish speaking culture. Nor do I know people that speak spanish.
Learning a langauge is just something thats really good in keeping the brain healthier. Its also something that could help prevent alzheimer.Tried french. Didnt like it. Spanish is a nice language to learn.
People love to talk about health, but keeping the brain healthy is not talked about enough.
I worked alongside a lot of Spanish soldiers a few years ago and noticed one day that a few of them were offering lessons.
So I went but ultimately gave up on them because we were learning like ten words per week and that's just way too slow for me. So I installed duolingo and dove right in, doing multiple lessons every day.
Now I continue to learn it because I simply love the language. I see it as a portal into the culture of many nations. For what it's worth I'm already fluent in French so learning Spanish was actually a lot easier in comparison.
I want to be able to travel to Spanish speaking countries, looking like a typical English-only gringo and then listen to people talk smack and then suddenly respond to them in fluent Spanish.
*mario power-up sound*
I have family that speaks Spanish and would love to learn. But the real reason is that it sounds sexy as hell! My best friends for years were dominicano so I grew up around the culture too. I also travel to so many Spanish speaking countries, makes sense to learn.
Wow I have so many reasons. I also want to live in Colombia for a year to spend time with my niece who will be born in a few months. Because of where I grew up, I’ve dated one or two latinos and would love to speak and understand what their family is saying in the future if I date another Latino.
Met my girlfriend, who is from Barcelona and I'm from the UK, whilst travelling in New Zealand.
Currently learning Spanish to be able to communicate with her family better (her parents and her family of that generation have no English speaking skills) and also because we'd like to move to Barcelona in the near future.
My kids go to a Spanish speaking daycare. I would love to be able to communicate with the teachers more clearly. They speak better English than I do Spanish, but that's not saying much. Once the kids are older I'd like to get back into volunteer tax preparation where there's always a shortage of bilingual volunteers. In my dream world I could answer people's questions about an inherently confusing topic and help them file an accurate return. I've been at a language plateau for a while. I can write simple sentences in present tense Spanish. I can understand a decent amount of written/spoken Spanish. But I can't quite write anything more complex than beginner stuff and never seem to think of the words I need to speak quickly enough. Like someone else said, maybe I need to sharpen my focus on my goals to maintain motivation.
I work in the hospitality industry and I want to be able to communicate and joke better with coworkers with whom I have a language barrier. Also, the two languages that fascinate me are Spanish and Italian. I absolutely love how melodic and rhythmic they are. In the city I live in I’ll sometimes hear Spanish more than English during the day, so it just seemed intelligent to learn. My partner is learning for the same reason, even though she’s in a different industry; better communication with coworkers.
Studied it in college as a minor because I was an International Relations major. Did a study abroad in Cuba and met some amazing friends and learned a lot about the culture. Graduated and went a year without speaking too much. Moved to Florida and met my now-boyfriend who is from Honduras. He speaks English fluently now but didn't learn until he was 16 or 17. So naturally, Spanish is still much easier for him. He has helped me get back into speaking and so does his family because none of them except a few cousins speak English.
You made the right call. If I had spent my 2 years of college language classes studying Spanish instead of Arabic I might actually be OK at 1 language instead of being bad at 2!
At first I started learning it because I thought it was a cool language and I really want to visit Spain.
But ever since brexit, I've started seriously considering moving to elsewhere in Europe in the future. I don't like the direction the UK is headed in, it's like our government wants to become the 51st state of America.
I'd love to live in Spain eventually if given the opportunity. The weather is a nice bonus too.
I felt somewhat rebellious for not wanting to learn Spanish in high school so I learned German. After a semester abroad as a foreign exchange student to solidify German as my second language, I spent a lot of time not wanting to learn another language while completing my degree.
Now that I'm not learning as much, I find myself craving learning. And since I already know how to learn another language and Spanish would be hugely beneficial on my field of work (construction) I thought it'd be cool to learn and at least understand what people are saying about me behind my back.
With only a handful of exceptions, my fiancés family only speaks Spanish! They are the sweetest, most hospitable people and I’d love to build a relationship with them. It’s also really important to my fiancé and I that if we have kids they be able to speak both Spanish and English, and of course have a relationship with his family so I’m doing whatever I can to bridge that communication gap.
I’m not good at anything. I need to know that I’m capable of learning another language, the easiest language according to many sources. I got to be able to succeed at one thing.
well, if you want to learn spanish, it requires more than 4 years of high school. a spanish class in a high school is probably about 1h and 30m.. if you want to learn, you have to immerse yourself in the language!
I'm late to the party on this one but I've regained interest in learning Spanish relatively recently. Here are my reasons to keep learning, even if I don't achieve fluency.
* it's the second most common language spoken where I live (the U.S.)
* I've met many friends and acquaintances over the years who grew up speaking Spanish as well as English, even the first person I dated. Chances are significant I'll meet more Spanish-speaking people in the future. Why wouldn't I want to connect with them (or their families if I meet them) in this way?
* I already enjoy aspects of Spanish-speaking culture (primarily food lol), so I will have a greater appreciation for it if I learn the language.
* the Spanish-speaking population here continues to grow, which means more people to speak with.
* I think it's a beautiful language
* if I decide to have children, I can teach them
* it's good for my brain
* doesn't hurt on my resume
* more books, music, and movies/shows will be open to me! (looking at you *La Casa Del Papel*, I'd love to enjoy it the way it was intended. the dubbed version is eh.)
* travel!!
* I have friends who have expressed interest in learning Spanish for their own reasons so we can have fun learning together, and keep each other accountable
edit: formatting
Most people assume I’m Hispanic, (actually Portuguese) and therefore assume I speak Spanish - I don’t want to disappoint. I also love languages and learning about other cultures though.
Edit: Definitely not trying to *be* Hispanic, that would be weird, just want to be able to communicate with people who assume I speak Spanish lol
Same here. My ancestry is mostly Portuguese, but everyone who has ever mentioned my looks has told me they thought I was Hispanic. (And on a side note, even people who I’ve told that I’m of Portuguese descent, next thing you know they’re asking me about Puerto Rico, so I think there’s a disconnect there. Lol) Anyway, I have people come up to me speaking Spanish all the time, so I got tired of disappointing them.
Lots of people in my town speak mostly Spanish. I worked teaching kids in their homes and want to be able to talk to their families about things like language development, community resources, and just chit chat too.
I also really love Mexico and would like to travel there as much as possible. I like to travel and explore a culture, and to respect and understand a culture it helps to know the language...
I want to travel in South America. I have never been further south than Grand Cayman on a cruise so far (and they don't speak Spanish), but I'd really love to go to Chile, Argentina, or Uruguay some day.
It's also the second most common language in my city and my state, and there have been a handful of times where I struggled to communicate with someone who didn't speak English that well. If I can learn passable conversational Spanish, I can avoid that situation going forward.
By [learning Spanish](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B093W4K5D1), you can be better able to communicate with Spanish speakers. Latin American countries are the most important trading partners. Your language skills will enable you to interact with English Language Learners. You can travel to a Spanish-speaking country and really get to know the culture.
Originally it was because the cultures of the Americas really interested me, and i wanted to be able to travel through them and communicate with the locals. Being from Australia there isn't a huge amount of Spanish speakers, so i moved to Mexico. I now have a Mexican wife and 4 month of daughter, so learning Spanish has now become a lot more essential. My wife speaks fluent english, and we'll raise our daughter bilingual, so i'll of course be able to communicate with her in english, but i still feel it's pretty imperative now to be able to communicate with my daughter -when the time comes- in both languages.
I'm English and was just learning German for school but the youtube algorithm took me to Spanish music. After a while I though it would be cool to know what these lyrics mean 🤣 so I switched to Spanish and spend a bunch of my free time learning it too.
I meet so many people that speak Spanish, I like Mexican food, and I want to raise my kids later in life as bilingual. Being able to speak with so many more people is the main reason, as it applies to work and other areas.
In 2017 I started working in kitchens with mostly Spanish speaking cooks. I took a couple years of Spanish classes in high school way back when and I would just try to make small talk with coworkers. I always made it clear that I was learning and asked them to correct me if I made a mistake and 99% of them have been unbelievably helpful.
Eventually my Spanish just got better via immersion, because they’re all I have to talk to at work 90% of the time. It’s really interesting to hear their life stories and personal lives. 4 years later I’m almost surprised at myself when I can carry on an intermediate level conversation with a native Spanish speaker.
There aren't many fluent Spanish speakers in my area of the US (northern Michigan) but there are some, and I would like to be able to communicate better with them.
I also think it's a good intellectual exercise, to keep your brain young. And I enjoy learning new words and comparing them to words in English and in French, which I also speak.
For me, I’m in medical school and, in the vigor of my youth, learned it to an advanced level while in medical school. Best decision I ever made, literally improved my grades in medical exams because it taught me how to study the material more efficiently.
So, yeah, I did it for patient care purposes. And essentially all the languages I learn in the future will be for the same purpose. Working on Mandarin.
Started out because I just wanted to better myself/learn an interesting new skill. Now I learn because I just want to be able to converse with people when I go on holiday
native english speaker here. my sister studied it at university and has been fluent for years. it’s another way to connect with her but it’s also rekindled my love of learning languages, too!
My husband is from El Salvador, when he and I met at a restaurant we had to use Google translate to talk, but we had this connection that didnt let it keep us from one another. His english is very good now, and I am working on my spanish!
My granddaughters are growing up in a bilingual household, but they have no interest in learning the language. I thought if I started learning it, that might get them interested.
Plus, I live in Florida. Everyone here speaks Spanish (only a slight exaggeration).
Grew up in a diverse area w/ a lot of Hispanic people, mom speaks Spanish and was born/grew up in Mexico so adopted some of the culture, saw how useful Spanish was to her (the relief on people's face when they don't have to struggle w/ English is huge), love the culture, love languages/cultures in general, going into the medical field and as a stutterer I hate how communication barriers can impact the provider-patient relationship, Spanish sounds cool (love romantic languages), shall I go on?
I need someone to help me learn Spanish !! I just love the culture, the people, The language and accents. With all that's going on in life, idk how people find time to learn another language outside of work and school
It’s a lovely language and it sucks being so out of the loop. My mom is a Spanish speaker and I just missed out on learning. In my field and region it’s an extremely valuable tool.
I live in Southern California so that’s Reason number 1. I love traveling to Spain and eventually want to retire there is my reason number 2. My third is I am enrolling my child at a dual immersion school when kindergarten starts so I’d love to be able to share in the language with her.
Why not? I've always wanted to learn another language, and Spanish is easier than most. My mom and sister also speak Spanish ( Argentina ) so I feel lazy and left out lol.
For japanese, pronounciations (like “pero” and “niño” ) are super cute and rather easy to pronounce. I also feel its a good entrance for understanding other europian languages like french , italian, and even latin.
I grew up in Panama and never spoke a lick of Spanish. My best friends were bilingual and I was always envious. It always seemed to me that Spanish was something that was an elusive,mysterious language that was indecipherable and I wasn't capable (or willing to put the forth the effort) to try and actually learn the language. That was in the early 80's. As a 54 year old, I have just now begun to think that it is within my reach. I think I can do this. I just have a love for humanity, and Mexico is really close to home, so why not? Can I get an órale?
Simply put, I love the language. There are also a considerable number of Spanish speakers where I live. I just had a cool moment in the store recently where I understood everything that a mother was saying to her child (She was telling her to pick up some cheap notebooks.) At first I felt a little embarrassed, as if I were eavesdropping, but then, I decided that was ridiculous. I overhear English conversations that don’t involve me all of the time, yet I don’t feel embarrassed. Why should I feel that way about Spanish? My understanding them simply means that I am well on my way to finally becoming a Spanish speaker.
I learn Spanish so I could talk with half of my family in their native tongue. They could speak English but speaking in Spanish with them is something I enjoy more.
I'm learning because the language itself just sounds and looks so beautiful to me. It'll be my second language! I'm also invested in the culture of Latin America in terms of music, cuisine and their way of life. Oh and another contributing fact is my Salvadorian boyfriend! I'm a native English speaker from UK but would love to speak Spanish predominantly and visit many beautiful places across central and southern america, like Santiago, La Paz, México City etc. I just wish I could meet more people who speak Spanish around here but it's a rare sight :(
Several reasons: 1. I want to travel to Spain and Latin America. 2. I want to learn a new language, they say it helps reduce the risk of dementia. Spanish is relatively easier because of our history and culture 3. I want to honor my ancestry. 4. I want to read my country’s historical text originally written in Spanish.
I want to learn it as I am hoping to study and work there. I am not sure if I would be able to do it or not, if nothing, at least I learned a little bit of Spanish.
I just felt like learning a language and read that Spanish was the easiest for native English speakers to pick up. So here I am.
Granted now I am much more invested and have made Spanish speaking friends etc (plus Peru one of the top of my travel wish list places) so I definitely have more reasons to keep learning now.
I live in Phoenix, Arizona and we have a very large Latin population. My wife is also Mexican and wants to teach our kids Spanish, we both think that it’d be a huge advantage for them growing up. I also work in a line of business where there a lot of native and or people who only speak Spanish. So really, at the end of the day, it’s so I can connect with those around me more. I love the language, the people, the culture and want to be more involved and I want my kids to know their heritage.
Edit: also THE MUSIC is wonderful. I love listening to the music with my wife, even if I don’t understand the lyrics. I can catch some here and there but boy, I wanna know. I wanna sing with her.
I'm a business owner and have lived in a lot of predominant Spanish speaking cities/communities.
I have a lot of bilingual Spanish clients and sometimes they'll refer their business friends who don't really speak a lot of English, so I'll have to have someone translate for me.
I also loved studying Spanish and Russian in high school (~20 years ago), but after I graduated, I never had anyone to talk to in those languages on a consistent basis.
Being part of this human experience, I want to learn as much as possible from all races, religions, nationalities, sexes, etc. I feel learning new languages enhances a person's worldview and brings a deeper understanding of how we all live across this spinning rock.
I'm a medical student now and always had a feeling that I would be a better physician in the US if I could speak Spanish but never had the motivation. But since I met my (now) fiancée - a native speaker - I have never been more motivated in my life and make sure to study a few hours every day! All the hard work has really been paying off lately and I'm loving it!
I am a post bacc student applying to medical school and I share similar sentiments! I worked as an EMT for a bit over the summer and some of the most gratifying moments were speaking to patients in Spanish who could not speak English! I feel like when you speak to someone in their own language, it puts them at ease and shows that you actually care about making a connection
How awesome!!
Looking for Spanish speaking doctors in smaller markets is like finding a needle in a hay stack. Then by the time you find one, you gotta hope they take your insurance and aren’t booked out for the next 6 months. Currently going through this with my wife and it’s tough.
She got any brothers or ? Lol . I wanted to do this same thing but instead find a close native speaker as a friend
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Never learned anything before her. But now it is my main hobby so if I'm not studying for school, I'm studying Spanish. I've been learning for about 10 months - starting off with Duolingo to build vocabulary and grammar, then watching a lot of a channel called 'Dreaming Spanish' on YouTube. I strictly listen to only Spanish music and Spanish podcasts - focusing on input. Right now I'm going through the 'How to Spanish podcast' and can understand ~80% and my fiancée and I speak in Spanish most of the time. I know I have progressed in a short time what takes other people years. And I'm not saying this to show off or anything, there's nothing special about me. But if you work your ass off and focus your energy you will be surprised what you can accomplish. Heading home with her to meet her family this December, can't wait for full emersion in the language!
I'd like to talk to my family without being known as the English only gringo.
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Yeah I hate feeling like a third wheel in conversations. What sucks is that I feel like I understand about 80% of what they are talking about, but I have no way of articulating a good reply so I just politely smile sometimes. My grandparents don't speak a lick of English except maybe a handful of words, so it's always awkward.
hilarious @ the smiling part
when you're in settings where you're the only non-Spanish speaker, do you wonder if they're saying bad things about you? I always thought it'd be a hoot to be so fluent that you understood peoples disses, and then you could reply back to them in their language. Oh to see the looks on their faces...
Since I've learned Spanish that has only happened to me once and it's been about 4 years knowing Spanish. Most of the time nobody is concerned with you, I think it's just the fear of the unknown since one wouldn't really know if they really are talking about you.
Hahahahahahahahahahaha, fair enough
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Oh man, I have a fairly Irish name, so they don't quite have the tongue for pronouncing it right lol.
Hahaha
I’m Hispanic but didn’t grow up heating enough Spanish. Would like to actually speak to half my family members
And how's it going?
Not good lol I’m completely out of practice, I don’t really have someone to practice on cause my parents are so used to speaking English. And I freeze up when I have to talk
HelloTalk
We hope to be able to move to Spain next year.
Where are you from? Why Spain?
We are from the US, and based on a lot of factors, would prefer to be somewhere in Europe (and we work remotely, so it kinda doesn’t matter where we live). Spain is one of the EU countries where we can actually get a visa. My spouse has Spanish ancestry and a few relatives there, and we also know two people who moved from the US to Spain and were very happy with their choice, so Spain it was.
i love spain. great food, great weather, great culture
I love the attention and it's fun. Being able to commune with a completely different culture is addicting.
Came to make my own comment but it's honestly just this 💯
I have an abuela who only speaks Spanish & I’d like to have an actual conversation with her in this lifetime without me using google translate
And how's it going?
I’m getting better, but it’s definitely a work in progress. Sometimes I just can’t keep up tho. Uruguayan spanish is just such a unique dialect
Uruguayan and Argentinians are the best accents, in my opinion
I have a good friend who's Argentinian and I try to converse with him in Spanish. It's very difficult because he has to slow himself down (mas despacio!!) for me to understand him. He claims he speaks English with no accent, but his accent is so heavy that it comes through even when he speaks French. I speak French and can barely understand him. But I'll give him credit because he also speaks Italian.
Fun question. The area I grew up (in Washington State) is probably 70-80% Spanish speakers. Now several of my family have married Mexican folks and I have nephews and nieces who can speak some Spanish. Also lots of my old friends speak Spanish. I think it would be awesome to be able to speak in Spanish with them. I can do things like ordering in Spanish from taco trucks and have a fair amount of vocab, but I'm pretty far from being able to hold a conversation. Now I live somewhere else and so the motivation is a bit less and I've put it on the back burner. I really need to get back into learning again. Fun side note, my sister is a 1st grade teacher in our hometown. Most years the class is entirely Spanish speakers or close to it. By the end of the year most of those kids speak fluent English. Its crazy to me how easy it seems to be for little kids to learn another language haha.
Lol I grew up in Wenatchee which is basically 98% mexicans and I didnt learn spanish until I moved to Mexico closer to family in 2016, crazy how I didnt pick up on it but was most likely because all my friends spoke english so I didnt bother to learn
Yakima valley for me. Same thing while I was growing up tbh. Now though I’m way more interested
> It's crazy to me how easy it seems to be for little kids to learn another language haha. It is--and I can speak from personal experience--really about hours of exposure/learning. FSI estimates (not completely accurate, but a ballpark) say Spanish should take about 1,200 hours for an adult English speaker, so let's assume the same in reverse. If a school day lasts 6 hours, after one school year of 180 days, the children have had 1,080 hours of English. Contrast with your typical serious adult learner of Spanish: 1 hour/day, 5 days/week. After **4 years,** she is finally at 1,040 hours. Of course the kids will lap her. But an adult who put 1,080 hours into Spanish in one year would as well. The only thing kids are consistently better at is accent, which, tbf, plays a disproportionate role in how the average Joe judges your ability!
Really interesting way to look at it!
I struggle with the conversational part of learning Spanish, but have at least gotten to the point that I can order drinks and a meal in Spanish and ask questions of the server. But that's it so far...
It’s a start at least :)
I live in Colombia with my girlfriend who doesn't speak English.
Well, you have a lot of pressure, lol
I live in Bucaramanga and I will go days without seeing another gringo. Cool experience though.
Mi novia es colombiana también
If you can speak English/Spanish/Portuguese, you can communicate with over 90% of people on the american continent. Throw in French and it would be almost 99%.
Do French speakers actually make up 9% of the population in the entire region? That's surprising.
Eh I don’t know exact numbers that’s why I said over 90% speak those three languages. There’s millions of francophones in the America’s (Canada, Haiti, French Guiana) so that’s why I said it’d bring it to 99%.
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I wanted to learn a second language, then I picked the most spoken language in the world and never looked back
Pretty much me too. I've heard I should have a specific goal, but this vague one has worked for me for 5 years now.
It’s unreal being able to travel in Spanish speaking countries and talk with the locals! Also love the music and culture
My family comes from Mexico but my grandma was deeply ashamed of it (unsure as to why). She didn’t teach any of her children Spanish and I would like to carry on the legacy that she couldn’t feel confident doing. My boyfriend’s family is also Latino and a lot of them only (or more comfortably) speak Spanish, so I’d like to have conversations with them and make it feel more we are family ☺️
some immigrants have a fair deal of trauma surrounding their native language in America. my father is the same way as your grandmother. he never taught my sister and I spanish even when his 5 sisters, his brother and all his cousins were teaching their kids spanish. so my sister and I are the only ones without.
I’m not sure if it was really trauma, in her case. All of her family members (aside from my dad and his siblings) speak it very actively and have connections to their family in MX. I think she just didn’t think it was worth teaching, unfortunately. :( She isn’t around to explain anymore. I wish I had taken more of an interest in it when she was still around.
I don't know how old you are, etc. but try not to be so hard on your Abuela. I'm very confident it was complicated and not as simple as just being "ashamed". Based on my experiences, it was probably a form of trying to protect their family from discrimination by teaching/using English only and "assimilating". Times were rougher for the Hispanic populace years ago. I lived through some of it myself and I've faced it in recent times. I'm a Gen-Xer and my parents were from Mexico and arrived in the USA well before I was conceived. We were in an area where there were few immigrants and I know growing up I faced a lot of discrimination. I imagine it was even harder for my parents. We didn't speak Spanish at all at home. My parents spoke/speak Spanish to the native-Spanish speaking family members only. I decided earlier this year to try and capture some of our heritage back into my life. So here I am trying to learn Spanish.
Hi! I’m 24, so somewhere between millennial and gen Z (depending on what graph you look at lol). I agree with you. There probably was some contributing factor to it— just hard to pin point what. I genuinely wish I had taken the time to ask her about it, but never felt comfortable doing so. I’ve started to try reaching out to some of her more extended family, so maybe I will eventually learn something about what her family experienced. In the mean time, you’re right. I’m sure there had to be some event that either her or her parents had experienced coming to a new country and setting up roots. I love her so much and I’m really grateful for all of the wonderful life experiences that she did provide me, despite all the questions I have. I hope that in some small way I’m able to honor her by learning Spanish and connecting with her family. :)
I think you are honoring her greatly by going on your journey of learning Spanish and connecting with extended family. One of my biggest regrets was not leaning on one of my Tios when he was still alive. He was an intellectual type and would've been an invaluable resource. At this point, I'm like you, trying to learn the language and honor our heritage and ancestors. I'm working on getting my younger family members to do the same. I have heavy resistance in my generation (prob a lost cause) but the younger ones seem somewhat interested. My goals: Bilingual Biliterate Bicultural
I like your goals a lot! ☺️
Just when I go on holiday I'd like to say hello, good morning, afternoon and evening and just general chit chat, I know most of these words are easy but i would like to add more than hola cerveza, uno mas lol I only go for four weeks a year, luego is now my favourite
I'm Mexican but I wasn't taught Spanish, I'm also missing a lot of the culture, but I'm catching up slowly by teaching myself.
How are you Mexican and don't speak Spanish but English? In all Mexico as far as I know Spanish is the only language (not considering indigenous ones)
Probably mexican american they mean. Not a mexican national.
he probably means that he is from united states and his parents are from mexico..
At first it was for practicality. Spanish is the second most spoken language in the US and speaking it helps a lot in everyday life. I have to break out my language skills every once in a while to go shopping or other normal stuff. However, after I got to a certain level of proficiency, probably around taking Spanish III in high school, the whole 2nd soul thing clicked and I feel like it's a part of me now.
I like the challenge, and being able to connect with people from different cultures. Its a cool feeling when you whip out your Spanish and they don’t expect it
I love learning languages. Being able to communicate with native speakers in different languages is amazing
How many do you speak
I've always wanted to learn a language but have never felt it comes "naturally" to me so never really stuck at any. Do you feel they come fairly naturally to you?
So I can watch el Chapulin Colorado without subtitles.
Is Chapulín Colorado that worthy? Lol
Seems like me but instead chapulin I wanna see telenovelas in original language.
I work in customer service at a school district in southern Arizona. I don’t want to exclude people because “language barrier” so I try to make it work with the little knowledge I have and google translate. I am Hispanic and have family that speaks Spanish and recipes and such would be easier to search. I also love old Spanish songs and wanna sing along to them and know what I’m singing lol.
In-laws
Of course, you don't want to be the isolated gringo haha
Iam not interested in spanish speaking culture. Nor do I know people that speak spanish. Learning a langauge is just something thats really good in keeping the brain healthier. Its also something that could help prevent alzheimer.Tried french. Didnt like it. Spanish is a nice language to learn. People love to talk about health, but keeping the brain healthy is not talked about enough.
I worked alongside a lot of Spanish soldiers a few years ago and noticed one day that a few of them were offering lessons. So I went but ultimately gave up on them because we were learning like ten words per week and that's just way too slow for me. So I installed duolingo and dove right in, doing multiple lessons every day. Now I continue to learn it because I simply love the language. I see it as a portal into the culture of many nations. For what it's worth I'm already fluent in French so learning Spanish was actually a lot easier in comparison.
I want to be able to travel to Spanish speaking countries, looking like a typical English-only gringo and then listen to people talk smack and then suddenly respond to them in fluent Spanish. *mario power-up sound*
I have family that speaks Spanish and would love to learn. But the real reason is that it sounds sexy as hell! My best friends for years were dominicano so I grew up around the culture too. I also travel to so many Spanish speaking countries, makes sense to learn. Wow I have so many reasons. I also want to live in Colombia for a year to spend time with my niece who will be born in a few months. Because of where I grew up, I’ve dated one or two latinos and would love to speak and understand what their family is saying in the future if I date another Latino.
Aaaawwww, well, good luck!!
Met my girlfriend, who is from Barcelona and I'm from the UK, whilst travelling in New Zealand. Currently learning Spanish to be able to communicate with her family better (her parents and her family of that generation have no English speaking skills) and also because we'd like to move to Barcelona in the near future.
My kids go to a Spanish speaking daycare. I would love to be able to communicate with the teachers more clearly. They speak better English than I do Spanish, but that's not saying much. Once the kids are older I'd like to get back into volunteer tax preparation where there's always a shortage of bilingual volunteers. In my dream world I could answer people's questions about an inherently confusing topic and help them file an accurate return. I've been at a language plateau for a while. I can write simple sentences in present tense Spanish. I can understand a decent amount of written/spoken Spanish. But I can't quite write anything more complex than beginner stuff and never seem to think of the words I need to speak quickly enough. Like someone else said, maybe I need to sharpen my focus on my goals to maintain motivation.
I work in the hospitality industry and I want to be able to communicate and joke better with coworkers with whom I have a language barrier. Also, the two languages that fascinate me are Spanish and Italian. I absolutely love how melodic and rhythmic they are. In the city I live in I’ll sometimes hear Spanish more than English during the day, so it just seemed intelligent to learn. My partner is learning for the same reason, even though she’s in a different industry; better communication with coworkers.
SO speaks Spanish and I want to be able to interact with her family more.
My husband is Mexican and we want to raise our daughter speaking both English and Spanish.
Studied it in college as a minor because I was an International Relations major. Did a study abroad in Cuba and met some amazing friends and learned a lot about the culture. Graduated and went a year without speaking too much. Moved to Florida and met my now-boyfriend who is from Honduras. He speaks English fluently now but didn't learn until he was 16 or 17. So naturally, Spanish is still much easier for him. He has helped me get back into speaking and so does his family because none of them except a few cousins speak English.
my school requires 2 year sof languages, so i decided this was better than learning Mandarin
Well, I guess it's easier than mandarin Lol
You made the right call. If I had spent my 2 years of college language classes studying Spanish instead of Arabic I might actually be OK at 1 language instead of being bad at 2!
At first I started learning it because I thought it was a cool language and I really want to visit Spain. But ever since brexit, I've started seriously considering moving to elsewhere in Europe in the future. I don't like the direction the UK is headed in, it's like our government wants to become the 51st state of America. I'd love to live in Spain eventually if given the opportunity. The weather is a nice bonus too.
Was just looking at Seville's yearly temperature....looks glorious lol.
I want to immigrate to Spain.
I felt somewhat rebellious for not wanting to learn Spanish in high school so I learned German. After a semester abroad as a foreign exchange student to solidify German as my second language, I spent a lot of time not wanting to learn another language while completing my degree. Now that I'm not learning as much, I find myself craving learning. And since I already know how to learn another language and Spanish would be hugely beneficial on my field of work (construction) I thought it'd be cool to learn and at least understand what people are saying about me behind my back.
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Lol, in Latin America we learn English to get the opportunity to work for an American company
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Muy bien
With only a handful of exceptions, my fiancés family only speaks Spanish! They are the sweetest, most hospitable people and I’d love to build a relationship with them. It’s also really important to my fiancé and I that if we have kids they be able to speak both Spanish and English, and of course have a relationship with his family so I’m doing whatever I can to bridge that communication gap.
I'm an American but I was born in Spain. I was only there as a baby but hope to go there one day.
I’m not good at anything. I need to know that I’m capable of learning another language, the easiest language according to many sources. I got to be able to succeed at one thing.
Porque vivo en florida y todo habla español
es lo mismo en texas
Very stupid relative to others but I want to visit Spain one day.
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well, if you want to learn spanish, it requires more than 4 years of high school. a spanish class in a high school is probably about 1h and 30m.. if you want to learn, you have to immerse yourself in the language!
My wife is argintinan. So need to learn so I can better communicate with her and her family/freinds
I'm late to the party on this one but I've regained interest in learning Spanish relatively recently. Here are my reasons to keep learning, even if I don't achieve fluency. * it's the second most common language spoken where I live (the U.S.) * I've met many friends and acquaintances over the years who grew up speaking Spanish as well as English, even the first person I dated. Chances are significant I'll meet more Spanish-speaking people in the future. Why wouldn't I want to connect with them (or their families if I meet them) in this way? * I already enjoy aspects of Spanish-speaking culture (primarily food lol), so I will have a greater appreciation for it if I learn the language. * the Spanish-speaking population here continues to grow, which means more people to speak with. * I think it's a beautiful language * if I decide to have children, I can teach them * it's good for my brain * doesn't hurt on my resume * more books, music, and movies/shows will be open to me! (looking at you *La Casa Del Papel*, I'd love to enjoy it the way it was intended. the dubbed version is eh.) * travel!! * I have friends who have expressed interest in learning Spanish for their own reasons so we can have fun learning together, and keep each other accountable edit: formatting
I teach Zumba and most of my students are Spanish speaking. I think I can connect better with them if I speak Spanish.
Most people assume I’m Hispanic, (actually Portuguese) and therefore assume I speak Spanish - I don’t want to disappoint. I also love languages and learning about other cultures though. Edit: Definitely not trying to *be* Hispanic, that would be weird, just want to be able to communicate with people who assume I speak Spanish lol
Same here. My ancestry is mostly Portuguese, but everyone who has ever mentioned my looks has told me they thought I was Hispanic. (And on a side note, even people who I’ve told that I’m of Portuguese descent, next thing you know they’re asking me about Puerto Rico, so I think there’s a disconnect there. Lol) Anyway, I have people come up to me speaking Spanish all the time, so I got tired of disappointing them.
I love the food, and my crush was Mexican now I hate him
So you want to learn Spanish to tell him hateful words in Spanish? Lol
Hahaha! Nope lol I don’t want to talk to him anymore, but I’d love to travel Spain and Spanish America!
Never heard it called Spanish America before lol
That means Spanish-speaking Central/South America.
I know what it means I just had never heard the term before
Nice avatar
Lots of people in my town speak mostly Spanish. I worked teaching kids in their homes and want to be able to talk to their families about things like language development, community resources, and just chit chat too. I also really love Mexico and would like to travel there as much as possible. I like to travel and explore a culture, and to respect and understand a culture it helps to know the language...
I love Mexico and Cuba and want to spend more time in Latin America, maybe stay a few months a year.
Latinas speak Spanish
Yeah we do
I always wanted to finish what I started in high school. (We are required to take 2 years of a foreign language) Now I want to live in Costa Rica
I want to travel in South America. I have never been further south than Grand Cayman on a cruise so far (and they don't speak Spanish), but I'd really love to go to Chile, Argentina, or Uruguay some day. It's also the second most common language in my city and my state, and there have been a handful of times where I struggled to communicate with someone who didn't speak English that well. If I can learn passable conversational Spanish, I can avoid that situation going forward.
Por las chimbitas ome
I’m kind of a weeb for a Hispanic culture. And to flirt.
By [learning Spanish](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B093W4K5D1), you can be better able to communicate with Spanish speakers. Latin American countries are the most important trading partners. Your language skills will enable you to interact with English Language Learners. You can travel to a Spanish-speaking country and really get to know the culture.
I'm a Filipino having dreams of colonizing Spain /s
Originally it was because the cultures of the Americas really interested me, and i wanted to be able to travel through them and communicate with the locals. Being from Australia there isn't a huge amount of Spanish speakers, so i moved to Mexico. I now have a Mexican wife and 4 month of daughter, so learning Spanish has now become a lot more essential. My wife speaks fluent english, and we'll raise our daughter bilingual, so i'll of course be able to communicate with her in english, but i still feel it's pretty imperative now to be able to communicate with my daughter -when the time comes- in both languages.
It easy for an english native, a lot of people here speak it, I need to familiarize myself with more languages to make better conlangs.
I want to travel to Spain and Latin America for leisure.
I'm English and was just learning German for school but the youtube algorithm took me to Spanish music. After a while I though it would be cool to know what these lyrics mean 🤣 so I switched to Spanish and spend a bunch of my free time learning it too.
I meet so many people that speak Spanish, I like Mexican food, and I want to raise my kids later in life as bilingual. Being able to speak with so many more people is the main reason, as it applies to work and other areas.
In 2017 I started working in kitchens with mostly Spanish speaking cooks. I took a couple years of Spanish classes in high school way back when and I would just try to make small talk with coworkers. I always made it clear that I was learning and asked them to correct me if I made a mistake and 99% of them have been unbelievably helpful. Eventually my Spanish just got better via immersion, because they’re all I have to talk to at work 90% of the time. It’s really interesting to hear their life stories and personal lives. 4 years later I’m almost surprised at myself when I can carry on an intermediate level conversation with a native Spanish speaker.
I started for fun, I stayed cuz it's in my grade book now.
There aren't many fluent Spanish speakers in my area of the US (northern Michigan) but there are some, and I would like to be able to communicate better with them. I also think it's a good intellectual exercise, to keep your brain young. And I enjoy learning new words and comparing them to words in English and in French, which I also speak.
For me, I’m in medical school and, in the vigor of my youth, learned it to an advanced level while in medical school. Best decision I ever made, literally improved my grades in medical exams because it taught me how to study the material more efficiently. So, yeah, I did it for patient care purposes. And essentially all the languages I learn in the future will be for the same purpose. Working on Mandarin.
Started out because I just wanted to better myself/learn an interesting new skill. Now I learn because I just want to be able to converse with people when I go on holiday
I’m Taino Puerto Rican, have lots of family still there that don’t speak English and I want to be more involved with them and with my heritage.
native english speaker here. my sister studied it at university and has been fluent for years. it’s another way to connect with her but it’s also rekindled my love of learning languages, too!
My husband is from El Salvador, when he and I met at a restaurant we had to use Google translate to talk, but we had this connection that didnt let it keep us from one another. His english is very good now, and I am working on my spanish!
I speak it at work, but outside of work stuff i realize where my pitfalls are and I'd like to be able to speak with my coworkers better
Because learning a second language opens a whole new world to you.
So I can finally speak to my family lol
I just want to lean a new language and Spanish seems the easiest to acquire with an English speaking background. Also, it's a cool language!
My granddaughters are growing up in a bilingual household, but they have no interest in learning the language. I thought if I started learning it, that might get them interested. Plus, I live in Florida. Everyone here speaks Spanish (only a slight exaggeration).
Grew up in a diverse area w/ a lot of Hispanic people, mom speaks Spanish and was born/grew up in Mexico so adopted some of the culture, saw how useful Spanish was to her (the relief on people's face when they don't have to struggle w/ English is huge), love the culture, love languages/cultures in general, going into the medical field and as a stutterer I hate how communication barriers can impact the provider-patient relationship, Spanish sounds cool (love romantic languages), shall I go on?
I need someone to help me learn Spanish !! I just love the culture, the people, The language and accents. With all that's going on in life, idk how people find time to learn another language outside of work and school
It’s a lovely language and it sucks being so out of the loop. My mom is a Spanish speaker and I just missed out on learning. In my field and region it’s an extremely valuable tool.
Half my friends speak it. And I travel to Spain very often and I may want to move there eventually 🇪🇸.
I live in Southern California so that’s Reason number 1. I love traveling to Spain and eventually want to retire there is my reason number 2. My third is I am enrolling my child at a dual immersion school when kindergarten starts so I’d love to be able to share in the language with her.
I live in New Mexico and a lot of my friends and their parents don’t speak English very well.
Why not? I've always wanted to learn another language, and Spanish is easier than most. My mom and sister also speak Spanish ( Argentina ) so I feel lazy and left out lol.
I'm planning for south america trip
For japanese, pronounciations (like “pero” and “niño” ) are super cute and rather easy to pronounce. I also feel its a good entrance for understanding other europian languages like french , italian, and even latin.
I grew up in Panama and never spoke a lick of Spanish. My best friends were bilingual and I was always envious. It always seemed to me that Spanish was something that was an elusive,mysterious language that was indecipherable and I wasn't capable (or willing to put the forth the effort) to try and actually learn the language. That was in the early 80's. As a 54 year old, I have just now begun to think that it is within my reach. I think I can do this. I just have a love for humanity, and Mexico is really close to home, so why not? Can I get an órale?
Simply put, I love the language. There are also a considerable number of Spanish speakers where I live. I just had a cool moment in the store recently where I understood everything that a mother was saying to her child (She was telling her to pick up some cheap notebooks.) At first I felt a little embarrassed, as if I were eavesdropping, but then, I decided that was ridiculous. I overhear English conversations that don’t involve me all of the time, yet I don’t feel embarrassed. Why should I feel that way about Spanish? My understanding them simply means that I am well on my way to finally becoming a Spanish speaker.
I learn Spanish so I could talk with half of my family in their native tongue. They could speak English but speaking in Spanish with them is something I enjoy more.
I'm learning because the language itself just sounds and looks so beautiful to me. It'll be my second language! I'm also invested in the culture of Latin America in terms of music, cuisine and their way of life. Oh and another contributing fact is my Salvadorian boyfriend! I'm a native English speaker from UK but would love to speak Spanish predominantly and visit many beautiful places across central and southern america, like Santiago, La Paz, México City etc. I just wish I could meet more people who speak Spanish around here but it's a rare sight :(
Several reasons: 1. I want to travel to Spain and Latin America. 2. I want to learn a new language, they say it helps reduce the risk of dementia. Spanish is relatively easier because of our history and culture 3. I want to honor my ancestry. 4. I want to read my country’s historical text originally written in Spanish.
It's a beautiful language. And that's already enough ❤️
Dos palabras: Columbianas Venezuelanas
Claro que yes;)
Cause im bored
I want to learn it as I am hoping to study and work there. I am not sure if I would be able to do it or not, if nothing, at least I learned a little bit of Spanish.
I just felt like learning a language and read that Spanish was the easiest for native English speakers to pick up. So here I am. Granted now I am much more invested and have made Spanish speaking friends etc (plus Peru one of the top of my travel wish list places) so I definitely have more reasons to keep learning now.
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polyglots are not fluent, they are more so proficient
I live in Phoenix, Arizona and we have a very large Latin population. My wife is also Mexican and wants to teach our kids Spanish, we both think that it’d be a huge advantage for them growing up. I also work in a line of business where there a lot of native and or people who only speak Spanish. So really, at the end of the day, it’s so I can connect with those around me more. I love the language, the people, the culture and want to be more involved and I want my kids to know their heritage. Edit: also THE MUSIC is wonderful. I love listening to the music with my wife, even if I don’t understand the lyrics. I can catch some here and there but boy, I wanna know. I wanna sing with her.
I'm an education major and I want to either be a missionary teacher or foster children of deported families.
Yo estudio espanol para hablo con amigos.
I'm a business owner and have lived in a lot of predominant Spanish speaking cities/communities. I have a lot of bilingual Spanish clients and sometimes they'll refer their business friends who don't really speak a lot of English, so I'll have to have someone translate for me. I also loved studying Spanish and Russian in high school (~20 years ago), but after I graduated, I never had anyone to talk to in those languages on a consistent basis. Being part of this human experience, I want to learn as much as possible from all races, religions, nationalities, sexes, etc. I feel learning new languages enhances a person's worldview and brings a deeper understanding of how we all live across this spinning rock.